Respond to Customer in Jira Service Space

Question

It appears last week, there was a change to the "Respond to Customer" comment in Jira Service Space. Currently, when a service desk user "Respond(s) to Customer" the ticket status remains "Waiting For Support." Previously, "Respond to Customer" would transition the ticket to "Waiting For Customer."

Now, the user must transition the ticket manually, requiring extra clicks, loss of time, etc. Is this an issue or new expected behavior?

Jonas Nilsson | Unitlane · Answer

Harry, Sussi Åström's reply is the one I'd test first, because it explains something that can change for everyone at once without anyone touching the rule. If the agent who replies is in the same organization as the reporter, or is a participant on the request, Jira treats them as a customer and the status stays put.

Quick way to prove it: have an agent who isn't in that organization reply publicly on a test request and see whether it moves. If it does, the question for last week is whether organizations or participants changed, for example a customer organization shared with the space, or agents added to one.

Sussi Åström · Answer

Hi,

We were having the same issue, and the automation has not changed, yet now required to manually change the status, if not responding from the change status  - if the responder is in the same org as the reporter, than the status won't change :)

Shaik Riyaz · Answer

Hi @Harry,

This is an issue / configuration problem, not expected behavior.

In Jira Service Management, ticket transitions on comments are controlled by Automation rules (typically "When a comment is added → update status"), not hardcoded behavior.

Here are the quickest things to check:

* Automation rule status: Go to Project settings > Automation and verify the rule handling comment transitions is Enabled and check its Audit log for recent failures.
* Agent role overlap (most common): If the commenting agent is also a Request participant, Reporter, or member of the customer's Organization, Jira treats them as a customer, causing the rule's transition condition to fail (

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-7546

).
* Workflow changes: Check Project settings > Workflows to confirm a direct transition from Waiting for Support to Waiting for Customer still exists and hasn't had blocking validators/conditions added.
* Permissions: Ensure the automation rule actor has the Transition issues permission in the project's permission scheme.

Thanks!!